1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to refrigerated storage units, and in particular, to compact refrigeration units in which the storage space is defined by one or more pull-out sections.
2. Description of the Related Art
Refrigerators and freezers for the cold storage of food and beverage items are well known. Many conventional units have one or more doors that are hinged to the front side of the cabinet. Food and beverages are ordinarily stored on shelves in the cabinet and the door(s) as well as in slide-out crisper drawers near the bottom of the cabinet.
Increasingly people are desiring more variety and design flexibility for cool storage space in kitchens, bars and other rooms. While the conventional full-sized stand-up refrigerators are still popular and used frequently, more and more small, compact cool storage units are being used. These compact units can be installed in areas, such as under counters or in an “island”, where it is may be more convenient to access the items. Moreover, their small size also means that more units can be installed in a room. This has the added benefit of allowing for more-or-less item specific cooling in which a single unit, or part thereof, can be set to provide cooling and/or humidity conditions that are ideal for a particular food or beverage.
Examples of such dedicated use cool storage units can be found in the commercial offerings of U-Line Corporation, the assignee of the present invention, including its compact ice makers, beverage centers and wine coolers. These units have one or more temperature zones that can be controlled to suit the items being stored therein. For example, the beverage centers, commonly used to hold soda and beer, maintain about a 35° F. temperature, which is ideal for such beverages, while its wine storage units maintain an ideal 40-60° F. temperature range.
Some compact cool storage units are drawer units that have bins in which the food or drink is stored and cooled. Such pull-out drawer refrigerators have proven to be well-received by consumers due to the increased ability to access the stored items. Undercounter installations have the added benefit of being low and thus within reach of children and shorter adults. Often such drawer refrigerators have two, or possibly more, pull-out drawers that are arranged side by side or vertically stacked one above the other so that not all of the items are stored in the same drawer. By properly controlling the cooling source and/or air flow conditions inside the cabinet, it is possible to create distinct temperature zones within the same cabinet. Thus, a unit with multiple drawers can store multiple items requiring disparate cooling conditions. As an example of storing in a single unit complementary goods that require different cooling conditions, in one drawer of such a unit, wine can be stored in its ideal environment, and in another drawer, cheeses can be stored in an ideal environment for dairy products.
While the consumer cool storage industry has advanced significantly in recent years, improvements are still needed. For example, accessibility to the stored items remains an issue of concern. This is particularly true for wine storage units. As mentioned, drawer units improve accessibility to the stored items, however, their deep bins are meant to store items that are stacked upon each other or are individual upright standing items. Thus, it can be difficult at times for the consumer to remove an item or to detect which items are stored where in the cabinet. Often the consumer will have to open the drawer or the door and hunt around for the intended item.
Wine storage units have been devised with glass door panels that allow for visual inspection of the wine without opening the door. Some wine storage units also have one or more wine racks that can be slid out from the cabinet after the door is opened. Both of these things help the consumer select and retrieve the intended item or bottle of wine. The glass front door panel also allows the wine bottles to be displayed while being maintained at an ideal temperature. However, even these units have accessibility issues because generally each rack must be pulled out from the cabinet in order to see all of the bottles on a rack. Moreover, each rack must be pulled out and returned inside the cabinet one at a time so that, for example, a lower rack is not obscured by a higher rack.
Accordingly, a cool storage unit particularly suited for storing wine is desired that has improved accessibility features.